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A day and two plays in London

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Good moaning ladies and germs! An interesting day in London yesterday. We saw two plays. The first is called ’12 Angry Men.’ This was written in the 1950’s and is about a trial of a 16 year old black kid accused of killing his father. 11 of the 12 were in favor of immediate conviction, saying it was obvious. The 12th said he was not sure. The play is about the techniques and challenges of consensus building. One guy, one of two bullies in the room, you later find out is a racist. The other is angry at his son and transferring that anger to the kid. Very well done. Robert Vaughn was in it- you may recall him from Man From Uncle in the 1960’s. In 2007, 12 Angry Men was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.[5] from the wiki.

The second, Woman in Black, is a very old play (we got 1/2 price tickets to this one). It is just for fun, this one. It is about ghosts and they do a good job of making your hair stand on end.

In between we had dinner and one of the many crowded and noisy places in the theater district. We could not even get into a pub- by 6pm they are jam packed with pint drinkers. Without paying a fortune we ended up in an American place. It cost us $50+ for a chicken breast, a burger both with coleslaw and fries preceded by calamari and a bowl of soup. I had a soft drink- gotta stay awake ya know- and Peg had a vodka and tonic for $11. Ouch! But it was a fun day nonetheless!

 

This is the link to the wiki about ’12’  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Angry_Men_(1957_film)

Adventures in Flackwell Heath

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March 12, 2013

We’re somewhere near Oxford in an old farmhouse, long since converted to residential and quite nicely at that.  Some friends we made in Paris, now  8 years ago, are now in Asia somewhere, wandering about.  They asked if we like to sit in this old house while they are gone.  They have a cat who is, in human terms, at least 962 years old, weighs no more than a mouse, and meows in a most loud and annoying way no matter how often you feed her.  On the other hand it is a beautiful place in a lovely area where the Thames is 100 yards wide or even less not far from here.  We have use of their car, which greatly facilitates matters.  It is a few miles to the nearest Underground station and from there 45 minutes or so to the center of London.  We have already been.

We went this past Sunday to the Courtauld  Museum http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/index.shtml.

This is a small museum located in Somerset House, a fabulous building.  The museum also is an art school founded by Samuel Courtauld.  He  and Count Antoine Seilern bought much of the art.  I went there mostly to see the fine collection of 19th century French painting.   There are some fine examples of Gaughan, Renoir (and a lousy one or two), the fabulous A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Manet,
and a new acquisition,  the lovely Portrait of a Peasant Woman by van Gogh.

 

van gogh portrait peasant woman

 

 

There’s also this fine Degas, Two Dancers on a Stage:

 

degas dancers on stage

 

After lunch in the Eastend, where the English was considerably harder to understand at least where we ate, we went to the National Gallery for the 4 p.m. lecture.  We saw 5 paintings in an hour that covered the development of the portrait from the confines of the religious in the 15th century (they knew about perspective but did not care much about it) until the 18th century when it because a significant source of income for some painters.

 

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Music in Valencia (by Peg)

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For a long time I have been intending to write something about the symphonic bands of this region.  They are quite special and provide everyone here with an opportunity to hear wonderful music, excellently performed.  Almost every Sunday morning at the Symphony Hall you can hear a 90-minute concert by a regional symphonic band, playing the quality of music in the video links attached below.  These concerts are always free, unless they are a benefit for a local charitable organization, in which case you will pay 2 to 5 euros to attend.  Please cut and paste these three selections into your browser.  I can’t seem to get the links to work right.

This video was made at the Palau de la Musica during one of the regional competitions.  This small band is from Benimaclet, the part of town just north of Valencia’s historic center.  You’ll see what I mean about the mixed ages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urYkCuXBayk

This video is Dance #2 , a piece by Arturo Marquez, a Mexican composer born in 1950 whose music is popular here.  It is performed by the Federation Band of Musical Societies of the Province of Valencia.  It’s a fun video to watch, as you can see the faces of the young musicians and how they are concentrating and enjoying what they’re doing.  Lots of percussionists as well, always fun to watch.  The band is so large they barely fit on the stage, which is in Rafelbunyol, the northernmost stop on the subway.

¡Hola de Valencia!

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Unlike last October 1 when we arrived in Valencia by train late at night during a flood, this time we arrived again from Paris but on a plane earlier in the day and to the dry conditions you normally find in this area.  The sun was shining and the skies crystal clear blue.  We splurged on a taxi from the airport so we would not have to drag our heavy bags up and down stairs on the Metro, and soon found ourselves in our old apartment overlooking the Torres Serrano in the heart of historic Valencia, dating from Roman times.

 

 

view from our place pen ink
Here’s what we see from our balcony (pen and ink by Gary)

 

The cleaning lady was finishing, so we had lunch around the corner near the Torres.  It was a bit warm so we ate inside.  The ‘menu’ of the day was the usual 3 course affair.  I had the vegetarian paella and a tuna steak for the second course.  Not a bad lunch at all, and only $13 including a bottle of a decent rose wine.

Afterwards we threw our clothes into the closets and our other stuff here and there and did some grocery shopping to get us through dinner.  Then we took the rest of the day to recover.

A lovely evening on the Duoro in Porto (photos)

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After another rather warm afternoon and a walk down Rua Flores, now in the midst of major renovations and a street filled with neat buildings in need,  it was lovely to be on the breezy river.   The Duoro here runs through the cliffs, upon whose sides Porto was built.  It is just a short way to the Atlantic, which you will also see in the photos.

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5926051122146900209?authkey=CLjajLyHpa-_wQE

Our first day in Porto

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September 19, 2013

Went to the porto (which means ‘port’) of Porto today.  Nice views on the way-  we went to the church and cathedral. Had a nice lunch, a sort of tapa approach, with some crunch yet flacky crusts, some bacalau fritters or what have you, and too large an order of fries.  The white wine was rather frizzy but quite good.

A lot of decrepit buildings, which have not been cleaned up like in Valencia, so it gives a rather shabby appearance.  Nonetheless I liked the steep walks and great views.
Porto is a three hour train ride in a northerly direction from Lisbon.  We are in a small apartment until the 24th.
Porto is a World Heritage site.

A visit to the town of Sintra, a lovely World Heritage Site outside Lisbon

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September 15, 2013

Sintra has been a World Heritage Site since 1995 for its Moorish castle on top of the mountain, its Romantic era architechture, lovely hillside homes and the wonderful view.  The area nearby has buildings from the 8th-9th century, as well as many from between the 15th and 19th centuries.  It is less than an hour from Lisbon on a slow train.

The views are wonderful, as you will see in the photos at  https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5923931808631808017?authkey=CIjhkvGOgue87AE

 

 

 

A few thoughts on the cuisine in Lisbon

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Our first night here we had dinner at a place nearby.  It took forever to get our meal and there were very few people there.  I ordered a grilled salmon and it was superb and worth the wait.  The lettuce and tomato salad, salada mista in Portuguese, was the standard effort with excellent ingredients; they even dressed it.  Peg’s grouper was poached and was totally tasteless.  Both fish portions were enormous.  With wine the bill came to about $40.

Last night we went to Moura Saluquia, which is ranked number 45 out of 1600 on tripadvisor.  Peg had a very good corvina (I do not know the English equivalent), which was grilled and served with a salad.  I ordered veal with mushrooms, also very good, the veal tender.  The bill with the house wine at $3.00 a 1/2 liter came to $23.  A much better meal overall, served in a very reasonable period of time, for half the price, very much as noted on trip advisor.

Nothing we have had so very we could not have had elsewhere.  The Portuguese are very fond of bacalau (salted cod) but neither of us are fond of it. Perhaps we could find a recipe we like here, as there are supposedly more than 300 ways to prepare it.  All involve a long period of soaking in water or milk to reduce the salt content.  In general fish and seafood in general is the big thing here.